Parent Identification of Eight Apple Cultivars by S-RNase Analysis and Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

As the parents of the some of the apple cultivars were unknown and others were uncertain, we investigated the parent-offspring relationships of eight apple cultivars by S-RNase analysis and SSR markers. The paternal parent of `Hida' was identified as `Golden Delicious', not the previously mentioned `Orin'. It was indicated that `Ryoka No Kisetsu' and `Korin' showing identical SSR genotype are likely sports of `Fuji'. `Fuji', rather than `Toko', seemed to be a maternal parent of `Kotoku', but was not a paternal parent of `Orei', `Starking Delicious', `Nero 26', `Empire', or `Aori 3'. Previously mentioned `Mutsu', `Indo', and `Shin Indo' were excluded as paternal parents of `Hokuto'. `Tsugaru' and `Jonathan' and were identified as the respective paternal parents of three cultivars described as having unknown paternal parents, i.e., `Aika No Kaori', `Yoko', and `Tsugaru'.